Senator seeks tighter regulations for truckers

New York – A push is being made by U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer to expedite new requirements within the trucking industry. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), following the widely reported fatal accident that critically injured comedian and actor Tracy Morgan, Schumer asked that the U.S. Department of Transportation expedite a requirement for the use of electronic devices for logging the hours of truck drivers.

The requirement would force truck drivers to log the hours they have spent on the road with such devices as opposed to doing so manually, which Schumer suggests would prevent them from falsifying the information.

Schumer is quoted by the AP as stating to a Manhattan news conference, “We know that fatigue is a huge issue in terms of the number of crashes, and you can’t rely on companies to set the rules themselves, because they’re going to be competitive.”

The truck driver in the crash involving Morgan, Kevin Roper, had been working after having not slept in over 24 hours, a complaint alleges.